A New Neurorehabilitative Postsurgery Intervention for Facial Palsy Based on Smile Observation and Hand-Mouth Motor Synergies

Figure 2

FIT-SAT treatment. (a) The FIT-SAT treatment was performed at home for about 6 months. After the first surgery, the right side of the face was rehabilitated by teeth clenching and mirror feedback. After the second surgery, the FIT-SAT treatment started as soon as the patient began to recruit the muscle. (b) The FIT-SAT treatment was divided into two phases: in the first (unilateral) phase, patients performed unilateral exercises in order to recruit the left transplanted muscle as soon as possible. The second (bilateral) phase started only after the patient was able to perform multiple repetitions of the unilateral left movement maintaining the posture for at least three seconds. From now on, the patient had to learn to coordinate the two sides of the face performing bilateral exercises. (c) Experimental condition: (1) no smile observation and no-hand contraction (baseline condition, BC), (2) no smile observation but hand contraction (HC), (3) smile observation but no-hand contraction (SO), and (4) smile observation and hand contraction (SO-HC).

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